Using aluminum foil when preparing baby food

Hi All, I am new to the group. I try to be green for green's sake but now with my LO have gotten into the whole environmental health angle. Anyway, I have a quick question. I am probably just being paranoid but my LO is super sensitive (allergies, reflux, excema, etc etc). I make my own baby purees. Is there any harm from wrapping, for example, a yam, in aluminum foil and baking it in the foil, then I stick it in the fridge overnight and maybe puree it the next day. Will the aluminum get into the food? I peel the yam when they are cool, so the skins don't get blended in. Just curious what you all think. Thanks!!

Comments (9)

My guess would be that you are A-OK with using the foil. I never scrimp on the quality though. (I don't really know why, just a weird thing with me.) So I wouldn't buy the brand at the dollar store. Plus it's recyclable!

I honestly don't know about the specific risks (or lack therof) of using foil to bake potatoes, yams, etc. However, I'm really paranoid about metal toxicity & aluminum in particular, so if you wanna go the extra mile, maybe you could try wrapping potatoes in baking parchment instead? Or just putting in a covered glass/ceramic baking dish to cook? Just a thought . . . Sorry I can't provide a more educated answer.

I always go for the reusable item first. We are trying to get away from plastic for heating stuff (like in the microwave), but still use what we have for cold storage. I just bake our sweet potatoes naked (really no need to wrap them to cook, they cook just fine without it) and then put them in any type of covered dish in the fridge until they're ready to puree.

IMO, hot foods puree a bit easier, so maybe you can even skip the storage part if you just puree it up right away!

The only thing I have heard about aluminum in regards to baby food is that there is a concern that little shards of the foil could get into the food. I saw this warning on wholseombabyfood.com, and for that reason I use plastic wrap. I try to reuse it for the next batch if I can. But this was for freezing it, not baking it or storing it.

We always just put our sweet potatoes in a dish, no foil, or use the microwave.

With some acidic foods (like foods that you wouldn't be feeding LO anyway), aluminum reacts with the acids. So I wouldn't suggest cooking acidic foods for you in aluminum foil, but for LO it's probably alright, esp. if you take care not to get shards of it in the food like PP mentioned (like, stabbing a fork through the foil to aerate).

--

Samantha - Wife to James since May 2006, mommy to Collin and Hollis, my Solstice boys (December 2007 and 2009).

I think you are fine w/ the aluminum leeching into the food. I think the big issue w/ aluminum is concerning acidy foods like tomatoes, etc. But if that still doesn't make you feel comfortable, try the parchment paper idea like a pp said. Or just boil the potato instead.

We don't cover babyfood with plastic wrap or foil either. We have the Fresh Baby trays (basically ice cube trays but with a seal-able cover, a little pricier than ice cube trays, but worth it), and also bought a big stack of 4 oz glad ware containers and used those to freeze baby food portions in. Then I would just thaw overnight and then heat up a small portion as needed.